Commentary and analysis to persuade people to become socialist and to act for themselves, organizing democratically and without leaders, to bring about a world of common ownership and free access. We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists for socialism. We are not reformists with a programme of policies to patch up capitalism.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Kenyans Are Not Obama's Family

Africans were elated when Obama was elected president of the
United States in 2008. Expectations were understandably high. After all, he was
one of their own, a son of a Kenyan. However Obama focused his attention on America’s
national security. He increased the presence of AFRICOM and expanded the use of
drone – assassination against terrorists. Obama sanction for the NATO-led
invasion of Libya destabilized the region, turning Libya and Mali into
terrorist havens and strengthening terrorist organizations such as Ansar
al-Sharia and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Obama’s economic policies in relation to Africa was let slip
by GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who explained the real motivations behind Obama’s
visit to the current 6th Global Entrepreneurship Summit: “We kind of gave
Africa to the Europeans first and to the Chinese later, but today it’s wide
open for us.” The goal, therefore, is to help U.S. corporations compete
effectively in the scramble for African resources. The positive rhetoric about
“partnership of equals” and “African goals and solutions” serves as a cover for
looting Africa’s resources.

In 2013 Senator Chris Coons of Delaware chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, said in a report
issued by his office that “China, which has made dramatic inroads across the
continent in recent years, may undermine or even counter value-driven U.S.
goals in the region, and should serve as a wake-up call for enhanced American
trade and investment.”